I've lived in one of the most snowiest places in the USA for all my life and have about 20 years driving experience here. I've seen it all time after time again; terrible blizzards where you can't see 2 feet in front of your vehicle, avalanches, black ice that seems to form out of nowhere, snow several feet deep, places where the ground freezes and pushes up big mounds of frozen dirt, over long steep mountain passes with deadly precipices, sometimes in the middle of nowhere. And all that in all sorts of vehicles, from FWD to RWD to AWD cars, trucks, SUV's, buses and tractor trailers. And I've never seen where an average driver needs AWD or 4WD.
For most people in snow country in the USA, AWD is more of a convenience than a necessity. If they live where it snows a lot in the USA, there will be snow removal services. The only people that actually benefit from AWD, 4WD and higher ground clearances are those that have a long unmaintained driveway, or those that insist on driving in that one terrible freak storm that happens every half a decade.
AWD and 4WD only really help get your vehicle moving. That's it. Once you're going down the road it doesn't really do anything to help you. Cornering is going to be the same. Braking the same. The road isn't going to dry out in front of your car just because it has AWD. Ground clearance usually isn't much of a problem. It seems to be more of a problem in big cities during a terribly snow year when snow removal services has a hard time keeping up with their job. But we're talking once every couple decades, and something that's not that hard to work around.
Some say you need AWD for engine braking down long mountain passes. But that's only if you have a huge trailer behind your vehicle. Otherwise engine braking is fine on two wheels if you slow the vehicle down with the brakes first before selecting a lower gear.
The main thing is tires. Don't even think of driving on snow or ice with summer tires or tires with less than 1/8 tread on them. I don't care if you have 4WD, 6WD or 40WD or WD-40. All season tires are ok on snow and ICE. Consumer Reports say you still take about twice the distance to stop on all seasons than on snow tires. But if you go extra slow you'll be ok. But even snow tires don't do miracles. Snow tires can slip and slide just like any other tire on snow or ice. But they do a much better job of holding more traction than other kinds. And if it's snowy and icy out, I go at least 2/3 the speed limit, if not slower, even with studded snow tires. And finally chains are the best for snow and ice. Put them on the drive wheels, and don't go over 30mph with them.
I can proudly say I've successfully towed a 4WD Ford Expedition out of a snow bank pulling it uphill with my 1985 FWD VW Golf! It's all in the tires!
AWD can give you a false sense of security. 2WD let's you know that it's slippery. When you come up to the next stop light, the guy in the 2WD car is going to want to slow down much sooner than the guy in the AWD car who now has a higher risk of slamming into the back of a stopped car. Just look at the rate of deaths in any particular vehicle comparing between AWD/4WD and 2WD versions. The statistics paint the AWD/4WD vehicles like death traps. A 2013 2WD Chevy Suburban is statistically one of the safest vehicles to drive. Your chance of dying in one is something like 6 in a million. But jump in the 4WD version and your chances are now tens of times more likely to die in a deadly wreck. If you get an AWD or 4WD vehicle, drive it like as if it were 2WD.
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